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Umajiri Haruka
Umajiri Haruka (馬尻春花) is the name of the protagonist of the 2019 game, Persona: Seasons of Change. Early Life Haruka born in 2007. He was named after his paternal grandmother. Despite this, he never was allowed to see them. He was raised by his parents in Ichidai City, isolated from his grandparents and all extended family. When he was a toddler, Haruka befriended a young girl his age who lived in his neighborhood, Kojima Haruko. They became quite close and remained best friends all throughout grade school, even as Haruko developed a keen interest in the occult and goth subculture. Their friendship continued until the other boys in middle school began to tease Haruka about being friends with a girl. Giving in to peer pressure, Haruka was forced to ally himself with these other boys, teasing and estranging Haruko. After his father received a hefty promotion at work, moving them to a wealthier part of town, the distance between them only grew. Despite all of this, Haruka still cared deeply for his friend, but was rendered unable to freely express it as he wished. Haruko's Death In March 2023, when both were age 16 and ending their years as first-years in high school, Haruka was once again forced to tease and ridicule Haruko in the presence of his male friends. Haruko, however, explained that her father received a drop transfer and she would be moving to Daitoshi City, rendering it very unlikely they would ever see each other again. Seeing this as her last chance, Haruko confessed her long-withheld romantic feelings for Haruka. Haruka was shocked at her confession, while his friends derided and jeered from behind him. Forced by their presence, he rejected her firmly and, to add insult to injury, proceeded to mock her. As Haruko fled in tears, Haruka's heart sank and he realized the weight of his mistake. Dismissing his friends, he decided to hurry to Haruko's house so that he might speak to her at last and explain everything. However, he was stopped at the door by Haruko's mother, who unwittingly stalled him by reminiscing just long enough for her daughter to collapse into utter despair in her bedroom. When Haruka finally entered Haruko's room, he was greeted with chilling silence. He eventually located her in her private bathroom, her still-warm body hanging from a noose around the shower railing. Seeing a suicide note at her feet, Haruka tentatively read it: I'm sorry I'm this way. I'm sorry I couldn't be someone more like you. Always just laughing. Always telling me jokes. I just didn't see. I didn't believe. You were laughing at me. I was just a fool. I loved you, Haru. You never really cared. Now this is...'goodbye'. Devastated and blaming himself entirely for her suicide, Haruka fell into a deep despair. Fearing that he was falling apart from the death of his childhood friend, his parents decided to send him away to spend a school year with his grandparents in the county and clear his head. And so, Haruka's last haiku in hand, he set off on the train to Seni Town in April. Arrival in Seni Town, Ghostly Encounters, & Pneumonia Although initially uncertain, Haruka quickly warmed up to his estranged grandparents. Though it took some adjusting, he began to adapt to living in the country, finding the simplicity to be quaint and calming. However, his idyllic country life was quickly upset upon coming across the Norowareta Shrine, said by locals to be haunted and cursed by the spirit of someone who had previously hung themselves upon the shrine's sacred Yoshishiro wishing tree. Various sources had different variations of the story, however it was clear to Haruka that some presence was haunting that shrine after facing a ghostly encounter of his own. * The first tale that Haruka heard about the shrine's ghost, from Kamei Asaji, was that it was of a high school girl who killed herself after being bullied. This variant of the story disturbed Haruka the most, given what had so recently happened with Haruko. * The second tale that Haruka heard was from his grandfather, who recalled that back in his day the story had been about a soldier who killed himself when he found out his base was overrun and he would be captured by the enemy, chasing to die rather than face captivity. * The third take that Haruka heard came from his grandmother, who recounted a version about a distraught mother whose infant child dies, typically as the result of starvation following the war. Gone mad with grief, she hung herself so that she might be reunited with her baby in the afterlife. But whichever the story, Haruka visited the shrine a second time on a rainy and had a more pronounced ghostly encounter, during which the ghost angrily screamed his own name. In his terror to flee, however, he dropped his umbrella and ran. By the time he got back home, he was soaked to the bone and sick with a fever. His fever only progressed day after day until a house call from Dr. Hachimitsu Daisuke revealed that his cold had progressed to pneumonia and would require a few days' hospitalization. After recovering in the hospital a few days, Haruka was finally allowed to return home with his grandparents. Category:Persona C Category:C Timeline Category:Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Persona Users